Zombies Take Over Minneapolis for The 13th Annual Zombie Pub Crawl

Was spending the night in the pouring rain after being sick with strep throat the greatest idea I’ve ever had? Yeah, probably not. Did I really need to spend as much money as I did on booze? Most definitely not. Did I end up having an absolutely amazing time with some of the best of friends. Definitely.

Last night was the thirteenth annual Minneapolis Zombie Pub Crawl. Dubbed as the biggest zombie pub crawl (although attendance seemed to be a bit lacking due to the freezing rain last night), Minneapolis’ ZPC is always a complete mess, shit-show, whatever you want to call it. But it’s always fun. The night is filled with some of the most amazing costumes you’ve seen along with people that clearly grabbed a tube of red lipstick, smeared it on their shirt, and called themselves a zombie (not that I did that six years ago or anything). It really doesn’t matter if you went all out or not, everyone had a drink in their hand and a smile on their face. That’s the whole point of ZPC and the reason I keep going back.

The music this year wasn’t quite for me. Other than Third Eye Blind, there really wasn’t anyone I absolutely had to see. Sure, seeing T-Pain would be cool and seeing Tech N9ne never really gets old but, due to the pouring rain, my friends and I spent majority of the night under one of the tents trying to stay as dry as possible. We heard the music of Tech N9ne booming from the outdoor “Terminus” stage. We danced, laughed and drank our way through their set but never left the safety of the tent. Sure, the rain put a bit of a damper on our night and even though going from stage to stage seemed impossible and I wasn’t able to catch as much music as I had wanted to, the smile never left my face.

Because of the rain, I never left the “Terminus” stage. Sure, I was a bit bummed that I didn’t get to see the acts on the other outdoor stage but I saw more than enough to be satisfied with the night. After Tech N9ne was The Devil From Acapulco, an act that I was actually super intrigued by. There isn’t much information online about this act so I don’t have many facts about them but I can tell you about the complete performance this guy (I think it’s just a performer who is also a DJ maybe?) gave. My jaw was on the ground as I watched this man jumping around in a giant traditional headdress while waving fire around the stage as bright lights shot out from his costume. The music was your typical EDM, rave music but that’s not what his set seemed to be about at all. It was definitely all about the high energy performance and, although the music was something that I have a hard time getting into, the live show was more than enough for me to get behind this act.

T-Pain was playing at the same time as Third Eye Blind. Being the music snob I am, I put my foot down and declared that I would be staying put for Third Eye Blind. Everyone else could do whatever they wanted and I was quickly abandoned by all but one of my friends. As everyone else in my group made their way to the other outdoor stage for T-Pain, my friend and I made our way a bit closer to the stage in preparation for Third Eye Blind. There was a break in the rain that has our outlook on the rest of the night looking a little bit brighter. We may have been shivering uncontrollable but at least we weren’t getting pelted in the face by the cold rain.

Third Eye Blind played a great music of both old and new music just solidifying the thought that they are one of the few 90’s bands that have stayed relevant throughout the years. My friend and I sang and danced our way through their set and didn’t even notice that it had started raining again until we found our beers to be watered down and have our eyes burning from the fake blood that had found it’s way into our eyes. The crowd during Third Eye Blind’s set seemed to be in the same place as us. It didn’t matter how hard it was going to rain, we were all going to stand there screaming along to songs from a different generation that had stood the test of time.

Last night was honestly a shit show. I woke up this morning with some leftover ramen in my fridge (apparently my friends and I went to get soup after we were done at ZPC). There’s fake blood sprayed all over the walls of my bathroom and my hangover was too much for even a couple of bloody Mary’s and some fried bar food to fix. That may sound miserable to most people but this mess that I woke up to proves that last night was a great night with the best of people.

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